Receive the latest politics updates in your inbox

Trump Cancels US-N. Korea Summit in Letter to Kim Jong Un

Citing "tremendous anger and open hostility," President Donald Trump cancelled a planned Singapore summit between the United States and North Korea. Trump also referred to the United States' nuclear arsenal in the letter, made public on the same day North Korea destroyed a nuclear testing facility in view of foreign journalists. (Published Thursday, May 24, 2018)

Foreign policy analysts say China is the hidden hand behind the derailment of the United States' summit with North Korea, NBC News reported.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has become increasingly anxious about the potential reunification of the Korean peninsula. After Kim Jong Un's recent meeting in China, there was a noticeable change in Pyongyang's public statements and private actions.

President Donald Trump called off the summit Thursday, telling reporters, "the dialogue was good until recently, and I think I understand why that happened."

"Clearly China wants to position themselves to be a driver in this process," said retired U.S. Navy Adm. James Stavridis, a former supreme allied commander of NATO and currently the dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. "They encouraged Kim Jong Un to step back from the summit."

Trump: Military 'Ready if Necessary' to Respond to N. Korea

Moments after the White House sent a letter to North Korea canceling a planned U.S.-North Korea summit in Singapore, President Donald Trump said the United States military was ready to respond to "foolish or reckless acts" from North Korea, claiming that South Korea and Japan will pay for the cost.